Blind
by pinkconchshell
Summary: What if they couldn’t see, though? What if nobody in the world could see? What if they were all born blind, just like her?


Blind

Toph is my favorite character in Avatar, (which I do not own) and I wanted to do a little drabble in how it's like for her to be blind. This idea came to me while I was riding in the car and I wrote it down in my Plot Bunny Book (long story) so I would remember it later. It's my first drabble, so go easy on me, okay?

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On a flying bison, somewhere in the sky, a thirteen-year-old girl was lying back on a saddle, listening to her friends laughing, and absentmindedly gazing up at the white clouds above. But something was off about this scene; she couldn't see any of it. Her sightless eyes stared up into blackness, a world without color, shapes, or light.

Yet she was perfectly fine with this.

Being born blind, Toph Bei-Fong had adjusted to a world where everybody based their lifestyles on what they saw. Before she ran away from home, she'd hear things her parents said that always made her think.

"Oh, darling, that dress is so beautiful on you…"

"Honestly, I don't trust that man, he didn't look like a regular salesman…"

"What do you mean, an intruder? I didn't see anyone come in after he left…"

"It's gorgeous, I've never seen anything like it before…"

"Watch closely, dear, and see how I do it…"

And then, when she joined 'Team Avatar,' as Sokka had so brilliantly named it, her friends seemed to forget she was blind altogether. It made a nice difference from her parents, who always made her feel like she was completely worthless, but it still annoyed her that they acted so tactless around her.

"Toph, what does this say? The print's too messy for me to read…"

"Hey, Toph, look at that totally hot guy over there, I think he's checking you out…"

"Watch this, Toph, it's really cool, and I only just learned how to do it…"

"Oh, my God, Toph! Can you not see what you're wearing…?"

"Look out, Toph, it's flying right at your head…!"

She sighed quietly, since her friends all thought she was asleep, and inhaled deeply, smelling pine trees and smoke, and heard the faint chirping of crickets. The sun's heat was less intense now, and it was beaming down on her from the far west. It was dusk.

Nobody seemed to know what it was like _not_ to see. They couldn't imagine their world without color, while she could barely even conceive what it was.

_What must it be like, _she wondered, _to be able to see like everyone else? What is light? What are reflections? How can someone recognize all those millions of words in a book? I wonder what music looks like. Is it beautiful? What _is_ beautiful, anyway? _Frustrated, she shifted her position ever so slightly, but no one noticed.

_Weird,_ she thought. How could they have missed that? Oppa's fur had rustled gently against her skin, and it was a tone lower that the wind that whirled around them. She would have felt it, but maybe being able to see just distracted you from the little things.

What if they couldn't see, though? What if nobody in the world could see? What if they were all born blind, just like her?

_There'd be no more awful dresses, _was her first thought. _We'd all walk around, bumping into things with our bare bodies, because nobody would see each other's nakedness. _

_No more pinchy shoes, either, _she thought happily as she wiggled her toes, tasting the air with her bare feet.

_Aang wouldn't have fallen for Katara so fast_, she laughed inwardly.

_Zuko might not stand out so much in public._

_Suki and Sokka might not even be together right now, she wouldn't have recognized him at the Serpent's Pass. _

_And I wouldn't always feel like such and outcast…_

She rolled over onto her side and began to really think about it.

_Would there even be four elements today? Earthbending, sure, people could learn to feel the earth like I do. Airbending, probably, since you could feel the wind sliding through your hands. Plus, the Fire Nation wouldn't have been able to find the Temples and wipe them out. Waterbending, maybe, but you'd have to be wet a lot of the time to be able to feel the liquid. And firebending… well, probably not, since all you could do is feel the heat and not see where the fire actually is. _

_Maybe the world would be better off if all humans were blind._

_For one, they wouldn't be judged by their appearances. Nobody would be able to tell whether somebody is ugly or beautiful. It wouldn't matter what color your skin was, or what kind of clothes you wore or what type of house you lived in. you'd actually have to get to know someone before you placed judgment on them. _

_And maybe material items wouldn't matter to anyone. Heck, maybe there wouldn't even _be _any material items for people to care about and grow attached to. They world would be a lot less shallow without fancy clothes or beautiful things or pretty faces. Everyone would truly care about people, not because of their nice stuff, but because of who they really were inside. _

_Men wouldn't stare at beautiful women. Aang's heart wouldn't speed up whenever Katara looked at him. People wouldn't shun each other because of the way they looked. Suki wouldn't laugh at Sokka's jokes so often, because his puppy-dog face wouldn't affect her. Girls wouldn't fawn over handsome men whenever they saw them walking down the streets. Zuko would be able to go where he wanted without intimidating anybody._

_People would stop and listen to the earth around them, and not take everything for granted. There'd be no more of those wretched books, with their smooth covers and blank pages and empty stories. No one would care about anything they do now. _

_And maybe, just maybe, my parents would finally love me._

Toph sat up abruptly, as if that would stop the tears from rolling down her cheeks. She felt the temperature drop dramatically and the wind pick up the tiniest bit. The bitter-sweet taste of saltwater rested on her tounge, and her toes became extremely cold. She figured they must be flying over the ocean.

Five heads turned in her direction, irritating the smooth path the air was traveling, and disturbing the flow of the winds.

"Oh, Toph, you're awake! Come here, look, it's like the entire planet is visible from up here, see?" Katara's clear voice rang out.

Her sightless eyes stared into a world of darkness. "Better than you do," she whispered to herself as she got up to join them.

*Fin*

Eh, I don't know. What do you think? At least, I hope it made you think, anyway. Oh, look, you ethereal, perfect, beauteous, stunning person; there's the review button!


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